1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle interior side weather strip (which is sometimes called an inner belt molding) which is installed along a lower end portion of a window opening portion of a vehicle door.
2. Background Art
Among vehicle doors (mainly side doors), one is known in which a lifting/lowering window pane (side door glass) disposed liftably in the door is disposed in such a manner as to be capable of being lifted or lowered along a lifting path the upper side of which is inclined toward the interior side more than the lower side thereof, i.e., which is inclined in such a manner as to be displaced toward the interior side as it is headed toward the upper side.
In addition, a vehicle interior side weather strip is installed by being fitted over the upper edge flange of a door inner panel, which forms a vehicle interior side window opening edge of the vehicle door.
Namely, the weather strip is generally comprised of an elongated main body portion having a substantially U-shaped cross section and forming an exterior side wall portion, a vehicle interior side wall portion, and an upper wall portion, which integrally connects these two side wall portions at a top, for forming an insertion groove for being fitted over the upper edge flange of the door inner panel; as well as an elongated seal lip projecting integrally from the exterior side wall portion of the main body portion toward a lifting/lowering window pane side.
In addition, among the weather strips, one is known which is so structured as to be provided with separately formed metal clips which engage with an attaching portion provided in such a manner as to project downward from a portion of the door trim close to an upper portion thereof.
In the vehicle door having the lifting/lowering window pane which is lifted or lowered with its upper side being inclined toward the interior side more than its lower side, as described above, if the upper edge flange of the door inner panel forming the interior side window opening edge projects in a substantially vertical state, the space (gap) between the upper edge flange and the lifting/lowering window pane becomes smaller toward the upper side of the upper edge flange.
For this reason, the operation of pushing in the door trim from a diagonally lower side or while rotating the door trim is required in both the case in which the weather strip is first attached to the door inner panel and the door trim is then fitted and the case in which the weather strip is first attached to the door trim and the weather strip is then attached to the door inner panel. However, there has been a drawback in that this operation is made difficult due to the narrow space.
In addition, since the structure is such that the metal clips are formed by leaf springs or the like separately from the weather strip, and the metal clips are disposed at predetermined positions on the weather strip, the fabrication of the metal clips and the number of assembling steps are required, pushing up the cost. In addition, since the number of component parts increases, variations occur in positioning during assembly, so that it is difficult to obtain accuracy.